Die Hard in a White House Movies Casting Update

A trio of casting news for the two dueling “Die Hard in a White House” movies, Sony’s “White House Down” and Nu Image/Millennium’s “Olympus Has Fallen”.

Up first, James Woods is in talks to join the cast of Roland Emmerich’s “White House Down”, which would find Channing Tatum playing a Secret Service agent who must rescue the White House when the Prez’s crib is taken over by domestic terrorists. Woods would play “the head of the presidential detail”, which I assume means the head of the Secret Service in charge of protecting the Big Man.

Jamie Foxx is already set to play the film’s black President.

Meanwhile, Ashley Judd and Robert Forster have officially joined Antoine Fuqua’s “Olympus Has Fallen”, which would find Gerard Butler playing a Secret Service agent who must rescue the White House when the Prez’s crib is taken over by North Korean terrorists. Judd would play the First Lady to Aaron Eckhart’s President, while Forster would play “a high-ranking general who is forced to deal with the nuke-loving terrorists.”

Angela Bassett, Cole Hauser, Radha Mitchell, Melissa Leo and Rick Yune are also in the cast of “Olympus”, with Yune, of course, playing the main Korean bad guy.

Both films are currently racing to the starting line, which probably explains the fast-and-heavy casting for both movies. They are, after all, basically the same movie, but with a different cast.